DAVID NADEAU - IN MEMORIAM

On November 4, 2007, Dave Nadeau, a man whom I considered my best friend for almost 30 years, died of a heart attack. Dave was an avid birder who travelled extensively in North America combining business trips with birding. He loved to keep lists, and his two big lists every year were his Alberta year list and Alberta winter list.
He retired on November 1st, 2006, so the year 2007 was his first full year of retirement. In that year he was able to pack in a lot of birding trips, taking his first ever trip to the American Tropics with a two week trip to Costa Rica, spending two weeks in California, taking a trip to Vancouver and combining a family visit with a birding trip to Nova Scotia. He also travelled extensively in Alberta, and two days before he died he chased after and saw Albertaís first record of Red-bellied Woodpecker. On the day of his death he had been on a field trip to Cold Lake with members of the Edmonton Nature Club. He got three new birds for the year on that trip, putting him at 286, his highest ever for Alberta. Dave was enjoying life to the fullest this year.
I donít do a lot of people photography, Iím mostly a wildlife photographer, but I dug into my files and found a few photographs of Dave. I have interspersed these with photos of birds that we saw on some of these trip. There is also text below each of the photos of Dave that you should read to understand the significance of the photos.
Good birding Dave, Iíll miss you very much.

Thanks for this tribute, Terry. For whatever reason I 'googled' Dave's name this afternoon and found your picture memorial. Brings back great memories of a great guy who we all very much miss here in St. Albert. We run a winter competition (a few of us crazy birders)and have a Dave Nadeau Trophy for the winner. The competition ends at the end of February and I could sure use Dave's help to bring me up in the standings. We won't forget our great friend and fantastic birder!

patricia nadeau-sangster

13-Jan-2010 19:09

I love you Uncle Dave! We all still miss you and think of you. Thank-you for sharing your passion for birding with us. Thanks Terry. --Patricia

Luc Nadeau

24-Apr-2008 07:21

I still really miss you uncle Dave. I just recently moved close to fish creek park. Me and Xhrylle( my Daughter) had an Awsome adventure at fish creek park 2 thanksgivings ago. I can't wait for the weather to get better and we are going to bring the Birdseed from Uncle Dave's Memorial to fishcreek park.
Thanks terry for all the wonderful pictues

Joan Nadeau

14-Mar-2008 17:29

Dave moved to Edmonton in 1976 and shortly there after he really got involved with identifying birds. He was passionate about sharing his knowledge with others.
Thank you Terry for being a really good friend to him.
Joan

Guest

19-Nov-2007 19:26

A beautiful memorial!
All those that knew him will surely miss him but we will always remember the good times. Birding was never boring with Dave around. He was always so much fun to hang out with.